The Internet has enabled a proliferation of information to become available to end users across a myriad of different heterogeneous networks. Users of the Internet enjoy the ability to quickly access various types of multimedia (e.g., audio, video, games, etc.) for viewing and playback on their devices (e.g., PCs, laptops, mobile phones, etc.). Various streaming protocols and procedures are used to deliver multimedia in a real-time, or near-real time fashion, such that a user may interact with the media (e.g., watch a video) while the media is simultaneously being distributed over one or more networks.
All media is not freely available however. Many content providers and publishers wish to protect and/or monetize their media assets when providing such content over the Internet. For example, various digital rights management policies (e.g., encryption/decryption) have been established to protect media assets of content providers and publishers. Automated e-commerce technologies have also been deployed so that content providers and publishers can conveniently monetize the various media content being distributed to end users.